I'm going to have a sister!

Last night I learned that my fabulous brother Adam (Happy Birthday, Adam!) proposed to his dreamy girlfriend, Rebecca, this weekend. They're engaged! The wedding is planned for March. And just now sitting at my desk at work, I realized that I'm going to have a sister! Right here in the same timezone as me! I'm so excited, I can barely stand it. I'm all teary. Right at the office. Someone pass the Kleenex.

Congratulations, Adam & Rebecca!

Doggie sweater? Doggie sweater!

Opinions vary widely. Doggie sweaters are either a complete anathema (waste of time, silly looking, unnecessary) or a nice thing to do for your dog in cold weather. To the knitter, it doesn't matter. They are quick to knit and fun and if the dog eats the finished product, it's no great loss.

I am knitting for Chaucher, a 28 pound schnauzer in Philadelphia. Here is the beginning of the sweater (click for bigger version):

The blue, red, and green yarn is Jaimeson's Soft Shetland, used for two Amazing Twining Lace hats last winter. I like the idea that Susan & Chaucher could be color coordinated on a winter walk.

The white wool is some random fleece I spun into yarn about 7 years ago and have never used for anything. It's very uneven & adds lumpiness to that part of the sweater, but I don't care, it's my own very own handspun incorporated into a knitted object for the first time ever!

Since this photo was taken, I've finished the body and I'm working on the ribbing around the bottom edge. FO picture soon!

Meanwhile, Narcisse progresses fairly evenly. Both fronts were finished Thursday and the sleeves are just now 15 cm of purple and I'm ready to change to yellow. Tonight I hope to practice the dreaded embroidery & crochet embellishments on the swatch, so I can solicit opinions about the detail colors - green leaves, fuscia flowers with orange centers

Making? Creating? Crocheting?

Narcisse, started Wednesday 8/18, now consists of one finished back plus two fronts knit up to the color change from purple to yellow. Photos (linked to bigger versions on my archive page):

   

And I'm having a little crisis of self-esteem. I'm woried about being a drudge, following other people's patterns. Those who suspect me of procrastinating might assume that I am inserting this little crisis into the mix *now* so that I can proactively start avoiding the crochet and embroidery portions of Narcisse. Honestly, the embelishments are really all there is to this project. Four boring (except for the raglan shaping) stockinette pieces, 12 crocheted flowers and some embroidered leaves. Neither crochet nor embroidery is really my strong suit, but the mom/recipient really liked this pattern. So there you have it. And hence the crisis.

The catalyst for the crisis was a pattern I read last night for a lovely way to use 800 yards of hand-dyed yarn (and isn't that always the way with hand dyed? you buy only enough to make you happy, not enough to make an object!). The project is called Typeset. My thoughts: ooh, cool, I have 800 yards of hand-dyed yarn I could use up on that.. followed by: Why can't I design stuff like that? My complements to Kim Salazar for the design and the notes on how she did it.

It's not all bad, of course. I've learned a lot of new techniques this year & produced oodles of finished objects. Looking at Typeset, though, I feel sort of trapped in my practice of knitting other people's (wonderful, proven, successful, delicious) designs and not making my own. I get the feeling that to design is better than to replicate. It's just really really not my strong suit. Maybe the exposure I get to great ideas from the world of knitting blogs will help boost me into that type of creativity. Or maybe I'll just sponge up those cool designs & follow the directions. For instance, check out this very cool swirl ball.

My vacation to the theater

Meanwhile, the vacation report. I went to the Shakespeare festival and there I saw:

• Comedy of Errors set in Atlantic City, with dreamboat Ray Porter as both Antipholuses
• Much Ado About Nothing nicely stepping out of the "everything must be as Branagh made it" mold. The set - large arched windows lit front & back for different emotional effects - and the costumes - 1930's dresses, Comedia del'Arte clown suits in the masked ball - surrounded and supported the performances.
• Oedipus Complex by Frank Galati blending the original story of Oedipus Tyrannus (who knew it mean swollen foot?) with Freud's theories about the universality of the desires Oedipus falls victim to. 1920's university lecture halls as amphitheaters and students as the Greek chorus. Though some in my party thought it less than totally successful, I loved it. Read more
• Humble Boy: a bereaved family, a garden, beekeeping and the theory of everything. A marvellous text, movingly enacted. If this play is performed near you, go see it! This review covers both Oedipus and Humble Boy
• Henry VI, part 1
• Henry VI, parts 2 & 3 - These weren't great plays, but they weren't awful either. They helped link up Richard II-Henry IV-Henry V with next season's Richard III.
• King Lear for the second time at Ashland. This staging was more emotional for me. The character of Mad Tom was totally shocking in a way I've never seen before. Julie Oda and Ken Albers (Cordelia and Lear) were so deeply connected and loving to each other.

This was my 10th year at the OSF and again I have to say they do some of the best theater in the country. The choice of plays and the quality of the acting are fabulous. I highly recommend OSF and the whole Ashland experience

After seeing all the plays, we try to assign a theme to the whole season. Usually the theme of every season is best summed up as "Men are pigs". OK, that might not be totally accurate - but try it out the next time you go to the theater. Men are pigs sums up a lot of work performed on the stage.

This year, OSF said the theme had to do with family and history. But I think the real theme was "Dead Fathers". Out of 11 plays, the dead/missing father had a significant impact on at least 7 (Henry VI, part 1, Topdog/Underdog, Oedipus Complex, Raisin in the Sun, Humble Boy and two where the father dies or is killed onstage: The Visit, King Lear) In Henry VI, parts 2 & 3 and the Royal Family the father's death is a little bit further in the past, but the dead father still influences the action of the play. So that's 11 plays, 9 dead/absent fathers. Two members of our party had lost their fathers in the past year, making the theme pretty tough on all of us. And why was it fathers every time, hmmm? Should we expect a year of dead mothers next season?

[imaginary pre-vacation post]

So.. I wrote this post last Wednesday about my upcoming vacation to the Oregon Shakespeare Festival and how I was taking yarn for Narcisse, a new toddler-sized cardigan and Icelandic Beauty, a doggy sweater. And sometime during my writing, the net went down & all my writing went *poof* into the ether. And I was too peeved to re-write it. So please imagine a useful post here, posted 6 days ago.

More photos of the finished objects

Writing captions for the photos, I realized that I've been working on Wendy's Reverse Turtle since November. Yes, that's 9 months to birth a fluffy sweater on 10.5 needles. Swan only took about 4 months, on size 13's. And now they're done! Here's a wash day photo from Friday morning:

And close-ups of the two talked-about objects. Feather and Fan baby doll blanket for Baby Molly (baby doll of Ashlyn):

And my first attempt at illusion knitting - a sample square with a chart I made myself trying to get the NC State logo to show up. This first attempt is only the S. My second sample incorporates the tiny N and C in the holes in the S. I've wanted to do some illusion knitting since the Stitch-n-Bitch book pattern for the alien head scarf came out, but I wanted to make my own design for the hidden motif. An article in InKnitters ("Shadow Notes - The Art of Hidden Patterns") was very helpful in showing how to make charts for illusion knitting. I would like to turn this into a scarf for a North Carolina State fan, but I need to get the logo verified. If that falls through, I think I could make this for a Stanford fan... though it just isn't cold enough to wear a nice wolly scarf to most Stanford games. Anyway, the sample:

Straight on           At an angle
   

Still working on the Double Trouble socks - just the 1x1 rib and the tubular bind-off to go. And I've started the dog sweater in Jaimeson's Soft Shetland.

Oooh, it's wash day!

I did it, I did it! The following objects are ready for wash today:

• Wendy's Reverse Turtleneck
  
• Swan cardigan/bedjacket for Kelli (photo)
  
• Baby Molly's doll blanket/Feather & Fan Washcloth
  
• Baby Nolan's Early Arrivals preemie sweater (photo)
  
• Sample illusion knitting versions of the NC State logo for Stacie
  

Phew! I started Turtle in stinkin' January! And Swan has been completely done & ready for seams since end of June. I'm so pleased to have these things all finished up & read to go. I'll post a photo after I've done the actual washing. I love to see all the knitted objects drying together.

Double Trouble socks are *not* finished, sadly. Talking with Janice on Tuesday, I decided I should use a different turnaround for the cuffs. I tried a purl turning row.. that didn't turn outward, it wanted to turn inward. R-r-r-rip. So I tried a knit turning row. That made purl bumps right on top of the cuff. Not cute. So I stalled out a while until Janice came up with an idea from something she'd knit before... change from k3p1 to p3k1 rip about half an inch or so before you want the turn down to start. No turning row. Just turn the cuff down after establishing the inverse of the rib parttern. The change from rib A to rib B is hidden under the cuff. So this morning I am going to r-r-r-rip the socks back about 25 rows and implement the new plan.

So exciting to be finishing things, working thru the stuck places. I'm feeling ready to tackle a couple new things or maybe even finish up some evil old things. Here are a few items I would like to tackle next:

Things already started

• Anny Blatt Myosotis cardigan, started in May 2004. Half the back is done & baby is due this week - eek!
  
• Colinette Giotto tunic for me... a doomed object having been started twice already. I'm worried I've scrunched the yarn & it won't be pretty anymore, so I've been putting off making this.. but I kind of want to wear it Saturday so it's either put up or shut up time for this project
  
• Rowan Denim OXO gansey for my dearest (swatch). 40 cm of boring stockinette finished, now it's time for the patterns
  
• Pursification of the Devine Mitred Squares
  

Things calling my name

• Oat Couture Crocus Cardigan for Baby Clara (due Oct 16)
  
• Tilt, from knitty in Noro Silk Garden, the tuquoise, pink, purple color
  
• Doggie sweater. Been meaning to make one for about a year and the Knitalong Yahoo group is currently considering companion animal knits. Brought hom Judith L. Schwartz's Dogs in Knits from the library and I think I have enough leftover Jaimeson's Soft Shetland to make an Icelandic yoked doggie sweater without a trip to the store
  
• Entrelac Socks from the Summer 2004 Knitters. I've got the yarn balled up & ready to go.
  

And so the debate begins.. what to knit, what to knit! It's so freeing to have finished those lingering sweaters, I feel like I could start a million new projects! Bwahahahaha!

Having trouble letting go

I'm trying to clear out some nearly-finished projects before I go back to work. First, Baby Nolan's preemie cardigan "Early Arrivals". It is the replacement for the little green cardigan which came out to be doll-sized. On Thursday I finished the seams and buttons on the cardigan. I am not totally happy with the join at the upper right neck where the knitted-in button band was carried around the neck and grafted. But since this truly is a temporary sweater for 3-5 lbs, I'm moving on. Photo:

Next, the Double Trouble socks. Friday I knit, unknit and reknit the DTs, thinking I could have them done by Sunday. But my dreamed-of turned down cuffs were causing trouble. So they are still on the needles. At Sunday's SnB, I watched Jeni doing tubular cast off to finish her Double Troubles - a lovely cotton in pinks & orang. I was a little jealous & thought about giving up, but i'm gonna stick with it a little longer and see if I can make the cuffs I dream of.

Finally, 2 sweaters whose time has come - the Reverse Stockinette Turtleneck and the Swan "bed jacket" cardigan. Each has been finished for months... except the seams. Saturday I worked on Swan, but had to take out one of the sleeves I'd already sewn in (grr!) and Swan had to got to a safe house for a while so I wouldn't murder it. Better luck on Sunday with the Turtle - from one inset sleeve and no underarm seams to completed object in an afternoon and evening. I think it is now safe to return to Swan and try again. If I finish those seams, tomororw is wash day for Swan, Turtleneck, Early Arrival, Feather and Fan washcloth/baby doll blankie, and my illusion knitting samples.

Wish me luck! It seems I am reluctant to let these finished objects really be finished and go on to their new homes.

Devine squares

OK, so maybe it wasn't so sensible, but Saturday as my first outing post-surgery, I took a class with Valentina Devine through Knitting Arts. Wendy was aslo taking the class (not Wendy mom-of-jocelyn, Wendy wednesday-jazz-salon pal)

We started bright and early at 9 am Saturday. By noon, I was very floppy and worn out - forgot to take the pain meds in the morning! - but a little lunch perked me up and I stuck with it. The knitting classroom space is just gorgeous, overlooking the trees of Saratoga's Wildwood Park. Crows, chickadees, acorn woodpeckers, Stellar's jay's and juncos were heard all day while we knit.

Ms Devine presented Creative Knitting - knitting garter stitch in random or semi-random color selections, changing directions counter-clockwise around the square as the mood strikes you, and finishing the piece with surface embelishment. My square used only "leftover" yarn (Valentina says "Not leftovers! These are your palette of colors. No artist calls the tubes of paint not in use "leftovers.") in worsted weights.

I felt a little drab, since most of the students used novelty yarns and much brighter color choices than my Jaimeson's worsted. I nearly left the square unfinished, but thought I'd better try out the surface embellishments before I forgot everything I'd learned. I like it better with the decorations on. Here it is: